Illikkal Kallu - Reviews From Travellers

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Nithin Mathew

2018-04-12

Wanted to visit Illikkal Kallu for a long time and finally that happened spontaneously due to a power outage at work. In half hour, fixed the rout map and we were on the way to one of the most hyped places in Kerala recently.

The drive was through scenic countryside, steep hills and total greenery everywhere we went. Made use of the mobile camera as much as we can as they were too soon to run their juices out.

The roads are mostly good, although uphill. We made use of Google maps and it was very good at getting us there even though one or two times we asked the locals just to make sure that we were on the right direction. At the foot of the hill, local jeeps will take the visitors up to the view of the partially cut Illikkal Kallu. There is an entrance fee of 10 and jeep charges of 20 per person. The jeeps take you uphill for about 1.5 kilometer which to be honest can easily be hiked. We did not take the Jeep ride on the way back, instead just walked and it took only 10 minutes!

Up on top, there are few small shops selling snacks and teas and stuff and then there is the view. There is steep falls, tall mountains surrounding and the dark sky that about to pour down made the place look serene. The Illikkal Kallu looks magnificent and the half cut rocky portion is unlike anything I have ever seen. It look as if it was cut straight down by a large sword.

Untill last year people used to climb on top of Illikkal Kallu but that stopped after few accidents which resulted in some of them loosing their lives. The pathway towards the rocky mountain is narrow with drops in each side, at the bottom of the mountain there is a cave and then at top, there is a small rocky bridge connecting two large rocks. Its called Narakapalam or hell's bridge as a walk through it has a fair chance of slipping down to the bottom, few hundreds Meters down.

Being an adventure junkie myself, it was very difficult for me to not go and explore the cave and the bridge but recently I have started valuing my life more ;)

After visiting Illikkal Kallu, we were off to Kattikayam Waterfalls which presented us with one of the most adventurous and surprising exploration we ever had.